Sweet Treats, as promised, Part 1

Posted on Sat May 18th, 2024 @ 1:06pm by Lieutenant JG Malcolm Beckett M.D. & Civilian Alexandra Winters & Civillian Sara Winters & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Lieutenant Eirly Andersen & Civilian Brunel Winters

1,330 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Helping Brunel
Location: Nash's family quarters
Timeline: MD 11, 1830 hours

Following on from their conversation during the Captain's promotion ceremony, Eirly was determined to try and win over Lieutenant Commander Winters, sorry, Nash as he insisted, and his family with the sweet treats she'd promised. On her way back to her quarters from the ceremony, she began formulating a kind of plan on what she was capable of making that would be perfect.

After getting back to her quarters, getting changed into track pants and singlet and sitting down to compile the list of what she needed, Eirly's first stop was down to the deck below to the hydroponics farm to go and pick the fresh ingredients she needed, having gotten permission to do so from those who had planted them. The second stop was to the Sugarplum Café on deck 9 where she and Malcolm had gone previously, to ask if she would be able to use their kitchen to bake everything, with a couple of promises and favours thrown in for good measure. The owner had no issues with it, which Eirly was really grateful and thankful for, and they organised for the following morning at 4:00am so that she still had time to finish everything before her shift started.

[The next morning]

Eirly was awake at 3:00 am to get up, have a coffee and get everything ready. It was bake day! She had made the dough for the Danishes the night before and quickly frozen the butter that was also required, and done all the prep work for the muffins including the caramel sauce, and even added additional things that weren't in the original plans. Putting everything in a container to carry, she made her way down to the café with no trouble because it was fairly quiet at this hour of the morning.

The café owner, a civilian lady by the name of Dominique, was all smiles as Eirly approached and offered to take the container from her, "Good morning, ma'am. I'm here to help with whatever you need, I've got others in the kitchen already prepping for today and they know you're going to be in the kitchen too, doing your own thing, and not to interfere.

"Thank you, I really appreciate this. I've missed baking so much." Eirly admitted with a wistful smile. "Shall we get started then?"

[That afternoon]

The shift had gone by really quickly, thankfully, and Eirly was actually excited to get back to her quarters so she could pick up the baking from that morning and take them to Nash's quarters. Hopefully, he and his family would like them!

Getting changed into more comfortable clothing and making sure she looked alright, Eirly made her way down to Nash's quarters with the basket, found the chime and waited for someone to answer, hoping she hadn't caught them in the middle of something

At approximately 1700 hours, Nash heard the door chime. Sara was helping Alexandra with her homework with Brunel taking an interest in what they were doing. The engineer opened the door to find Eirly Andersen standing there with a large basket of baked goods in her arms.

“Eirly! What a nice surprise! Please don’t tell me that’s all for us. I know you said you wanted to make some things but….that’s enormous. Here, let me take it. Come in, come in! Let me get everyone out here.”

Nash sat the basket on the kitchen counter and summoned the rest of his family. “Sara! Alex! Brunel! Eirly is here and she brought some goodies. Come say hello!”

"What can I say?" Eirly replied with a smile as she walked in on the invite, "When I promise something, I make sure to deliver. I hope you enjoy them all, they're freshly baked this morning."

Brunel came in, sniffing the air. "What is that delicious aroma?" As he approached, he nodded to Eirly. "Hello Ma'am."

A light-hearted Nash put his arm around Brunel’s shoulders and said, “That….my young friend, is one of the best things in the universe. The sweet smell of sugar, chocolate, fruit, and so many other things. It tastes even better. Why don’t you try something? Pretty sure you’ve never eaten anything like this.”

Alex popped up and walked over intrigued by the treats, but more so by the visitor. "You're Eirly?" Alexandra asked walking over to the visitor. "I'm Alex. How did you make all of this?"

"It's really lovely to see you both again, we met just the other day at the promotion ceremony, remember?" Eirly gave them both a warm smile as she walked over to the counter to take everything out of the basket and put them on display for everyone to eat. "But please, I insist you both either call my Eirly, or Ly. Whichever you prefer."

Once she got everything laid out nicely on the counter, Eirly put her hands together briefly with a smile on her face and looked at Alex specifically, "I picked all the ingredients from the hydroponics farm, struck a deal with one of the cafe owners to use her kitchen, and got up at 0300hrs to make it all by hand. All before I started work." Then she looked at the others, "There is a selection to choose from: apple and apricot turnovers, Danishes of various flavours (blueberry, apple, custard, and apricot) with the most amazing flaky pastry, a pull-apart loaf of bread that is a secret family recipe, sweet and savoury scrolls, and a timeless favourite: croissants... Please dig in and enjoy!"

"There's so much of it!" Alex said. "This must have taken so long," she marvelled as she picked out a custard filled one.

“I don’t know what to say, Eirly. You’ve outdone yourself,” [Nash grinned and mouthed “thank you”]. Nash tried to think of a way to repay her for her generosity and kindness.

“Say, Lieutenant…..Eirly…why don’t you join us? Stay for dinner if you don’t have any plans.
What do you think everybody? This way we can talk and get to know our new friend.”

As she could hear no objections, Eirly was humbled by the invitation to stay and have dinner with them, "Thank you, I'd be delighted to stay for dinner."

Brunel had never seen, or smelled anything like what was now on display. Sure, there had been a few desserts at the welcome ceremony, and Alexandra had been showing him other things. However, something about this selection was really making his mouth water. Picking up one of the treats called apple danish, he took a bite and his eyes grew very large in excitement. As he held the pastry in one hand, he signed with the other. "Yum!"

As he continued to eat however, he started to waver slightly.

Eirly's smile at Brunel turned into a frown. That wasn't a normal reaction, "Brunel, are you okay?"

Alex put her danish on the counter and rushed over to see if she could tell what was wrong with her brother. "What's wrong?!" She cried as he went to the floor, she tried to go to his side, but her mom held back while her dad tried to help.

Instead of replying, he suddenly collapsed and started convulsing.

Nash tried his best but he could not catch Brunel as he collapsed to the floor. “Oh, shit! Must have been something he ate!”

//^\\Nash to sickbay! Medical emergency in my quarters! Transport now!//^\\

Without specific instructions the medical team transported Commander Winters, and those in closest proximity to him, which happened to include Eirly, along with Brunel. Sara and Alexandra were left behind, but would begin their walk to sickbay.

> > > To Sweet Treats, not as planned, Part 2 > > >



Lt. Commander Nash Winters
Chief Engineer
USS Astrea

Lieutenant J.G. Eirly Anderson
Assistant Chief Tactical Officer
USS Astrea

Sarah Winters, PhD
Microbiologist, Mae Jemison Institute for Research
USS Astrea
& Alexandra

Brunel Cal-Torin
Civilian, Winters family
USS Astrea

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